Posted on April 8, 2026April 9, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: John Knutson Meet the Maker: John Knutson by Don Bradley Originally published in American Lutherie #127, 2016 It was an overcast day with a bit of sunshine as I drove down the long driveway to the house and buildings at the end of the drive. I’ve known John Knutson for some time, having met his daughter’s Mom many years back before I moved to Forestville. John lives only a few blocks away, but we mostly run into each other at the post office. Let’s stop in and meet John. Hey John, good to see you. Remind me — when did we meet? Hi, Don, good to see you too. We must have met at least twenty-some years ago. I’d have to think which girlfriend I was with... oh yeah, you were dating my ex-wife! (both laugh) Tell me about your early life. My twin sister and I were born in 1951 in Fort Knox, Kentucky. I’ve got three other sisters. We’re army brats. By the time I was seven, we’d lived in seven different places, but mostly stayed in Virginia from the second grade on. When I was six, my dad was commanding tanks in Southern Germany. I have a distinct memory of hearing “Hound Dog” by Elvis and Fats Domino’s “Blueberry Hill” on the radio back then. I didn’t know much about music at that age, but remember those tunes vividly. We weren’t a musical family you know, unless you consider tanks a musical instrument. My twin sister and I did get chauffeured in a military jeep to the firing range on occasion. We moved to Fort Hood, Texas, in 1958. A friend of my father was Elvis’ commanding officer. Elvis had been drafted and was in basic training there. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on April 6, 2026April 7, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Michael Bashkin Meet the Maker: Michael Bashkin by Brian Yarosh Originally published in American Lutherie #132, 2017 A Bashkin guitar really stands out. The design and artistry speak volumes. And once you have had the pleasure of hearing or playing one, you won’t forget it. The tone has an identity all its own. I have known Michael for many years. Every time we talk about lutherie, I learn something new. He is a great guy and has a wealth of knowledge that he is always willing to share. I sat down with Michael at the 2017 GAL Convention for a chat. Let’s start at the beginning. Where did you grow up? What did your parents do? When was your first introduction to guitars or woodworking? My grandparents emigrated from Poland and Russia to the USA about 1905. They were part of that big immigrant wave. They did typical immigrant things; they were in the garment industry and had to bootstrap their way up. My parents were born in Brooklyn in 1940s, and each was the first in their family to go to college. My dad taught high school at Brooklyn Tech for over twenty-eight years. My mom was an elementary school teacher, but when they had a family, she started staying home. I was born in New York City and lived in Brooklyn for a couple of years. Then we moved out to the suburbs in Teaneck, New Jersey, about six miles from the George Washington Bridge. Dad commuted in to the city every day. It still very much felt like we were in the New York area. So I had a pretty normal middle-class childhood, and I felt fortunate that I grew up in a racially mixed town. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on March 26, 2026March 26, 2026 by Dale Phillips Multiscale Peghead Scarf Joint Multiscale Peghead Scarf Joint by Harry Fleishman Originally published in American Lutherie #118, 2014 MultiScale fretboards, once so unusual and exotic, not to say controversial, are becoming more accepted as their potential benefits are enjoyed by many musicians. I personally find that the multiscale board is especially beneficial for multistring basses, where it can give the low B a longer, more massive scale, thereby giving a deeper, more massive tone. Similarly, on the guitar, a longer-scale low string countered with a shorter-scale high string can give a nice smooth transition from the deeper low range to the sweeter high range. Obviously, there are many ways to realize a multiscale instrument, from the decision about which, if any, fret is perpendicular to the centerline; to what scales to choose for the long and short of it. As one of the developers of the multiscale fretboard in the modern era, with arithmetician John Starrett, I have done a great deal of experimenting with it and the many ways to do it. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on March 26, 2026March 26, 2026 by Dale Phillips Making Matching Templates Making Matching Templates by Jayson Bowerman Originally published in American Lutherie #120, 2014 Development of a new instrument model usually begins with creation of the body-shape template, or plantilla, before any molds or forms are constructed. Here’s how I make a female template that could then be used to make something like an external body mold, beginning from an existing plantilla. Time invested making accurate, fair, and smooth templates is well spent. The method was derived from the technique of expanding or shrinking a curve by a fixed offset. Typically we do this with something like a pencil and washer, but the same idea can be applied with a router loaded with a trim bit that uses a follower bearing. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on March 25, 2026March 25, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: George Gruhn Meet the Maker: George Gruhn by Roger Alan Skipper Originally published in American Lutherie #107, 2011 Growing up in Pittsburgh in the ’50s, at age twelve George Gruhn seemed destined for a life centered in zoology. So many animals, in fact — ’possums, snakes, turtles, frogs, and fish — filled the basement of his parents’ home that a Pittsburgh newspaper sent a reporter to interview him. His college education began with a premed major but quickly shifted to ethology (animal behavior, in the psychology department). A department chair nervous about venomous pit vipers left George with twenty-five to thirty cottonmouth moccasins in his apartment, rather than in the psychology building. Also in George’s apartment at that time were the beginnings of a vintage guitar collection. He’d scoured classified ads, pawnshops, and music stores for the instruments few others yet sought, but couldn’t find enough in the Chicago area to satisfy his hunger. On a vacation break in 1965 he visited Nashville, expecting to find shops overflowing with old instruments, but found virtually nothing of interest. Ready to leave in disappointment, he heard of collector Mike Longworth (later to write Martin Guitars: A History) in Chattanooga, four hours away. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
